Avs make roster moves after preseason finale

The Avalanche returned from Las Vegas and its 4-1 preseason-ending victory over the LA Kings early this morning and skated for about 90 minutes at their practice complex, after reassigning four players to the American Hockey League’s Lake Erie Monsters. We’ll have more on the demotions of center Brad Malone, defenseman Tyson Barrie, left wing/enforcer Patrick Bordeleau and goalie Trevor Cann in Monday’s paper and online.

The roster is at 27 players, four above what it needs to be by Wednesday. Forward Brandon Yip (broken forearm) will be put on injured reserved, and I’m not sure what the club is going to do about defenseman Kyle Cumiskey, who skated by himself today in an orange jersey. He has a groin problem. The Avs are carrying 16 forwards, nine D and two goalies. The only remaining rookies are LW Gabriel Landeskog and D Stefan Elliott.

We think those guys have a good chance to be in the season-opening lineup Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings at the Pepsi Center.

Reassigning the 6-foot-6, 225-pound Bordeleau means the Avs likely will begin the season without an enforcer. Bordeleau, 25, has played for Lake Erie the past two seasons, racking up 125 penalty minutes last season.

“He’s a guy that certainly didn’t hurt his chances as far as being a depth player for us this year,” Avs coach Sacco said of Bordeleau.

Meanwhile, defenseman Erik Johnson crashed into the dasher boards during a drill and left the ice in upper-body pain. He later returned and is fine. Fellow big D-man Jan Hejda is wearing a protective brace on his left knee. He’s not too happy about the brace but said he’ll only use it for a couple weeks. He says he’s 100 percent.

Finally, the Avs’ charity golf classic is Monday at The Ridge at Castle Pines North in Castle Rock. Not sure if there are any openings for fans to join a foursome that includes a player. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. and the shotgun start is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.

No Avs enforcer will mean the Wings will target Duchene and Landeskog. They will try and injure them, and there won’t be anyone on the Avs bench that will be able to do anything about it.

Just wonderful.

Jon

There’s a guy on the team named Ryan Wilson, heard of him? Just because you don’t have the ‘enforcer’ name tag doesn’t mean you can’t drop the gloves. Just sayin’…

Rob

O’brien and McLeod are adept enough, and so too is Ryan Wilson, with their gloves off to handle anyone on Detroit I promise you that. But I agree that perhaps we should’ve kept a heavyweight. I was all for giving Bordeleau a shot.

TRENT

Sorry dude. McLeod, O’Brien and Wilson suck as bad at fighting as they do getting a simple shot on goal. Try again.

EnzoSin

Disagree, Wilson actually won a few fights last year very convincingly, as did O’Brien with Nashville. McLeod is up and down when it comes to fighting.

Peterman

yes, and Detroit doesn’t fight much. I’d be more worried about Kronwall. Luckily we have O’Byrne, O’Brien and Hejda now to punish people down low. We’ll be fine

rememberstevemoore

Anyone “targeting” players needs to worry more about Brendan Shanahan than the Avs fighters. They may not care about forever being known as Bertuzzis, but maybe if they lose pay for five or ten games the loss of a shopping day or two will really hit them where it counts. (sarcasm intended)

Rob

Also disagree, check Wilson’s fight card he actually won most of them last year. And read the full sentance: ‘anyone on Detroit’ was sort of a key part of it. Someone on Detroit (Doug Janik) tried fighting McLeod last year and got pummeled.

jimbo

So since the Wings have no enforcer either, that must mean that the Avs will try and injure Datsyuk and Zetterberg?

Smell the Glove

I was puzzled by the logic myself. The Wings are a hell of a team but the knock on them recently is that they’re old and soft.

They get it done but they aren’t a physical concern. Just keep your head up when Kronwall’s on the ice.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.